Chios Island National Airport “Omiros” · LGHI / JKH · updated 8 Oct 2026
One island.One runway.Four months, maybe more, with no flights.
The Chios runway is being lengthened from 1,511 m to 1,799 m. The works are needed. The island was promised a two-month full closure in January and February 2027. A scenario now under discussion would shut the airport from 15 November 2026 until spring 2027. This is the story of how that happened, and the case for another way.
Where things stand
On 6 October 2026 local press reported government and contractor talks on a full closure from 15 November. No NOTAM has been issued. The island’s MP said a decision would come within the week, with the airport back in service by Easter 2027. On 8 October the contractor was declining to comment and ΥΠΑ had issued only general statements.7, 8, 9, 38
The chronicle · every date from a public document
How two months became four.
December 2021 · DOCUMENT
A contract for thirty-two months.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport signs with the contractor Themeli: extend the runway 288 m northwards to 1,799 m, strengthen the existing 1,511 m, build safety areas at both ends. Thirty-two months. Funded by the Public Investment Programme and ESPA. A separate 6.7 million euro contract for the new terminal follows in August 2022; that building was delivered in 2025.2, 3
Contractor: ΘΕΜΕΛΗ Α.Ε. · discount 24.79%
Duration: 32 months
Runway: 1,511 m → 1,799 m
Reasons given: adjacent works of the Region and Municipality blocked the first phase; the old sewage main still live; the ΔΕΥΑΧ pipe not connected.
Later: aggregate shortage, labour shortage.
November 2024 · DOCUMENT
Extended by twenty-eight months.
A single decision moves the deadline to the last days of 2026. By then the contract is five years old. No penalty clause is reported as activated; an opposition MP would later complain that the clauses were never enforced.2, 59
20 January 2026 · QUOTE · Notis Mitarakis, MP for Chios
“FORABOUTTWOMONTHS”
Completion slips to 2027. The airport, he says, will close completely for about two months.5
10 February 2026 · DOCUMENT
The island writes to the Minister.
The Municipality, the Region, the hoteliers and the tourism body sign one letter. They expect a runway cut to about 900 m, a capacity loss above 60 percent, and they ask for a ferry from Piraeus or Lavrio to Mesta for the duration.10
Air passengers May–Oct 2025: 91,096
Expected capacity loss: over 60%
Request: ferry Piraeus / Lavrio – Mesta
420 M CLOSED (NORTH END)
TORA 1030 M
PROPELLER ACFT ONLY · LIMITED SEATS
13 March 2026 · ON THE RECORD
The runway shrinks. The island keeps flying.
Phase one begins. The same ATR 72s keep flying, but with fewer passengers on board: the airlines limit the load to what the shorter runway allows. Fares rise "from the day the NOTAM was issued", the Chamber of Commerce tells the Prime Minister a week later. But the planes keep coming, for six months.1, 36, 11
27 March 2026 · DOCUMENT
From now on, helicopters.
The C-130 can no longer land. ΕΚΑΒ writes to the Medical Association: every case will be covered by helicopter, newborns included. The nearest ΕΚΑΒ helicopter base is Syros, at least forty minutes away, or Elefsina. The Air Force Super Puma detachment at Chios airport stays, for now.52, 53, 54
11 May 2026 · ON THE RECORD
The closure gets a date: January and February 2027.
At the Municipal Council the contractor's representative names the months. Two of them, in the dead of winter, before Easter. He also says it is technically impossible not to close, that independent authorities control the works, and that nothing faster exists. The Ministry does not attend; written questions are left with a ten-day deadline. No answers have been published.6, 37
"Technically impossible" not to close
Ministry: absent · written answers due in 10 days
Answers published: none
June to August 2026 · ON THE RECORD
The summer falls away.
With fewer seats and higher fares, June departures fall 21 percent, July 21, August 31 against the year before. Hoteliers warn that tour operators "will not sign for 27 or 28". The year before, the airport had carried 321,269 passengers, for an island of 50,361 residents.13, 57, 22, 12, 35
6 October 2026 · SCENARIO · Politis Chios, unnamed sources
CLOSEDFROM15 NOVTO SPRING
"No NOTAM has been issued; it is a scenario under examination, not an officially announced decision." Airlines object. Blue Star may cut Piraeus sailings from six to four a week.7
7 October 2026 · QUOTE · Notis Mitarakis, MP
ΥΠΟΜΟΝΗΜΕΧΡΙ ΝΑ ΒΓΟΥΝΕΠΙΣΗΜΕΣΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΕΙΣ
"Patience until the official announcements come out." A decision within the week. The contractor declines to comment. ΥΠΑ offers general statements. "Clearly, at Easter and in summer the airport will be operating."9, 38
Scenario · a Tuesday in December 2026, airport closed
Nothing dramatic happens. That is the problem.
The damage from a closure is not one event. It is a thousand ordinary days made longer, costlier and riskier. The people below are composites, but every situation is drawn from the public record.
Skylitseio runs a dialysis unit and a chemotherapy day unit, but complex oncology, specialist follow-up and surgery mean Athens. Islanders with chronic conditions "travelled regularly to the capital for treatment and tests", as the island's PASOK MP put it in Parliament this week. With flights, a day trip. Without them, each appointment is an overnight ferry, a hotel, and a return boat that may not sail in a north wind.20
Skylitseio is the island's only public hospital, and it is short of staff. Serious cases are transferred to Athens. Until March the runway took fixed-wing air ambulances: a King Air in November 2025, a C-27J with six injured children in February 2026. Since the shortening, ΕΚΑΒ has told the Medical Association in writing that every case goes by helicopter, and the nearest ΕΚΑΒ helicopter base is Syros, at least 40 minutes away. Helicopters land at the airport; the hospital lists no helipad. A full closure removes the last fixed-wing option.21, 23, 24, 52, 53, 62
Southern Chios is the only place where mastic is produced commercially. It has been a protected designation since 1997 and on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2014. Buyers, inspectors and export partners visit. A buyer who needs two days on the island now needs five.25, 26
The University of the Aegean's School of Business is based in Chios, and the island's own students study on the mainland. Both travel at exam breaks. A ferry-only island means fewer trips home, and for some, a decision not to study here at all.27
Spring bookings are made in winter. "None of the tour operators will sign," the manager of the Chandris Hotel told a public meeting in April, warning that the 2027 and 2028 seasons are at risk. Lost bookings do not come back when the runway reopens; they are already on Lesvos or Samos.22
The Blue Star boat leaves Piraeus. Everyone above is on it, with everyone else: freight, conscripts, civil servants, returning families. Islanders fear the route may drop from six to four sailings a week from November. The ferry was never sized to replace an airport.14, 7
Who pays
Health
Since March every air transfer is by helicopter, from Syros or Elefsina. Chronic patients skip or delay treatment. A full closure removes the fixed-wing air ambulances that used the runway until March and makes the airport's own availability to helicopters a question nobody has answered.52, 53
Tourism
Chios sells spring and autumn as well as summer: the mastic villages, Nea Moni, walking. Operators plan a year ahead. An uncertain reopening date is a cancelled season, and hoteliers already say operators will not sign.22, 28
Prices
The Chamber of Commerce told the Prime Minister that fares rose "from the day the NOTAM was issued" and asked for a ticket subsidy for the duration of the works. The request was tabled in Parliament on 19 March 2026.11
Business
Shipping families, mastic exporters, the university and the public sector all run on day trips to Athens. Each becomes a multi-day absence.
Population
Islands lose people when they become hard to leave and return to. Every family that moves "temporarily" for a hospital or a job is a family that may not come back.
Trust
A 32-month contract signed in 2021 is now five years old and, by one MP's account, about 40 percent complete, with no penalty clause reported as activated. A closure on top of a delay asks the island to pay twice.2, 59
"Our patience is running out." In January the Tourism Body asked for delivery by spring 2027. In October its president said he would accept any closure date on one condition: that the airport is ready for Easter. Kostas Moundros, president of the Chios Tourism Body, January and October 202633, 50
2 May 2027 · Orthodox Easter · the promise
"Clearly, at Easter and in summer the airport will be operating."
The MP's commitment on 7 October: a 1,500 m runway before Easter 2027, the full 1,800 m in summer 2027. The Tourism Body says it will accept any closure date on one condition: that the airport is ready for Easter. The island has heard dates before. This page exists so that the next one is written down.9, 50
Geography · where the island sits
Chios is 200 km from Athens and seven nautical miles from another country.
Athens is a 50-minute flight.
Or a night at sea. The only alternative is the Blue Star overnight ferry from Piraeus: seven to nine hours, five to seven sailings a week, fewer in a hard winter. There has been no high-speed boat on the route for years.14, 15
Take the flight away and the island moves.
Not on the map. In practice. A specialist appointment in Athens becomes a two-night trip. A business meeting becomes a week. A funeral becomes impossible to reach in time.
The nearest airport is on another island.
Mytilene on Lesvos is two to three hours by ferry, almost daily. Samos is two to four hours but only two to five sailings a week. Neither link was designed to feed an airport, and neither airline schedule waits for a boat.16, 17
Izmir's airport is closer than any Greek one.
Çeşme is seven nautical miles across the strait, 30 to 45 minutes by ferry, and about 90 km from İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport. In winter the crossing runs about once a day. During a closure, the fastest route from Chios to a jet is through Turkey.18, 19
The alternative · Is another way possible?
The phased plan was the official plan. Dropping it is a choice, not a law of engineering.
Since 13 March 2026 the airport has run on a shortened runway: 420 m closed at the north end, 1,030 m of take-off run available, the usual ATR 72s flying with fewer passengers. That was ΥΠΑ's phase one. Phases two and three were to move the works south and keep a shortened runway open, around 880 m. The scenario now under discussion merges those phases into one long closure. Here is what the public record says about whether the phased route remains possible.1, 36, 9
What the people in charge say the closure is for
Not one of them has published a technical reason that a shortened runway cannot stay open. The reasons given are speed, and whether airlines would use a very short strip in winter.
"Technically impossible" not to close
Themeli's representative told the Municipal Council that independent authorities control the works and no other technical solution is permitted. No written breakdown followed. On 8 October the company was declining to comment.37, 38
Partly open means slower
ΥΠΑ warned that if the airport stays partly open "construction will fall very far behind". Its 9 March announcement promised separate NOTAMs for phases two and three with completion in the first quarter of 2027.39, 1
An 880 m strip "has no practical benefit"
Notis Mitarakis said the original plan was to shift and shrink the runway to about 880 m in late October; the alternative is to run two phases in parallel. Keeping the airport nominally open on a very short runway is pointless, he said, if airlines will not fly it in winter.9
The tie-in needs a full closure
Ioannis Malafis said the next phase is the connection of the old runway to the new section, hence a total closure, and that the current phase is running about twenty days ahead.40, 8
So the real argument is about 880 m, not about phasing. A 1,030 m configuration worked for six months. Nobody has said why it cannot be held while the south section is built, nor how many weeks the tie-in itself requires. That is the document the island is owed.
What the rules and other airports show
Rebuilding a runway in phases while it stays open at reduced length is standard, documented practice. The regulators write guidance for it and Greek airports did it last winter.
Phased, reduced-length operation is the textbook method
The guidance describes works "divided up into phases where different parts of the runway remain operational with a reduced length available", temporary thresholds and lighting, night working, and asphalt ramps across the join so the runway reopens each morning. EASA's aerodrome rules cover partial closures and temporary displaced thresholds.41, 42
Full rebuild, 120 m extension, open throughout
A 1,463 m runway was completely reconstructed, a 1.5 m dip filled with 45,000 tonnes of asphalt and a new 120 m section added, "while maintaining full airfield operations throughout". Work ran at night with temporary ramps and the airport reopened at 06:30. Four short closures of about two and a half days each.43
Reduced length, not closure
Mykonos operated at 1,400 m of 1,902 m. Rhodes at 1,900 m of 3,300 m. Chania at 1,900 m with a displaced threshold. Where Fraport closed fully, it was for 14 days at Kefalonia, Corfu and Zakynthos and 7 at Santorini. Mytilene will close one day a week from 17 November 2026 to 23 March 2027, not for months.31, 45, 46
A ΥΠΑ airport that did close
Skiathos, also state-run, was closed for most of January 2026 with only short reopening windows. Phasing is a choice airports make, and the shortest closures come from operators who plan for them. Jersey resurfaced at night in 2008–09 and again in 2021 with daytime flights untouched.31, 44
What the aircraft can do
ATR's figures for the ATR 72-600, the aircraft that serves Chios, are a take-off field length of 1,315 m at maximum weight and a landing field length of 915 m. Take-off is what limits it, and the way round that is weight: fly with fewer passengers. That is what the airlines did on 1,030 m for six months. The smaller ATR 42-600 needs 1,107 m at maximum weight and 966 m to land, so swapping types buys little. On 880 m the margin shrinks for both, and winter wind and a wet runway eat into it. That is a genuine argument against an 880 m strip. It is an argument for keeping 1,030 m, not for closing.30, 29, 36, 11
What will not replace the airport
Several substitutes have been floated. The record on each is short.
Total closure
- Fastest for the contractor; simplest for the authority.
- Zero air access for four months or more, through Christmas and into Lent.
- Medical, education and business travel pushed onto one overnight ferry route.
- The 2027 season sold with no reopening date.
- Every slip extends the blackout. This contract has already slipped 28 months and no penalty clause is reported as activated.
The phased plan, done properly
- Hold the 1,030 m phase-one configuration while the south section is built, or publish why that is impossible.
- Night and low-season windows for sections that must touch the active strip, as CAP 781 describes and as Jersey and Guernsey did.
- If the tie-in needs a full closure, state its length in weeks, place it in deep winter, and publish the NOTAM end date.
- One extra Piraeus sailing a day for every closure day, agreed with Blue Star in writing before the NOTAM.
- A written ΕΚΑΒ plan for helicopter cover and the airport kept available to helicopters during works.
Greek runway works, winter 2025–26, as published by Fraport Greece and OPSGROUP.31, 45
What we are asking for
Five commitments before any NOTAM is issued.
Publish the engineering case
ΥΠΑ and the Ministry set out, section by section, why the 1,030 m phase-one configuration cannot be held through phases two and three, and how many weeks the tie-in of the new section actually requires. A contractor saying "technically impossible" at a council meeting is not a document.
Make the closure short and bounded
If the connection of old and new runway needs a full closure, measure it in weeks as at Kefalonia, Corfu and Zakynthos, place it in the lowest-demand weeks, publish the NOTAM end date, and activate the penalty clauses if it slips.
A substitute that actually sails
The 2026 Lavrio–Mesta tender found no bidder. Agree one extra Piraeus sailing a day with Blue Star before the closure, subsidised if needed, and confirm the existing frequency in writing. If Mytilene is to be the hub, sell the ferry and flight as one ticket and schedule around its Tuesday closures.
Patients first
A written ΕΚΑΒ operational plan: which helicopters, from which base, in what response time. The Super Puma detachment stays at Chios. Helicopters keep using the airport during works, as Fraport permits at its closures. A travel and accommodation fund for patients treated in Athens.
Pay for the delay
Raise the Transport Equivalent ceiling on air fares for Chios for the duration, as the Chamber requested in March and June, and agree support for the 2027 tourism season now, not after the bookings are lost.
Act · decision expected mid-October 2026
Tell the people who decide.
The decision sits with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, ΥΠΑ, which runs the state airports, and the island's MPs. A short message from a resident, a doctor, a hotelier or a student carries more than a press release. Copy the message below and send it, or share this page.
Keep Chios connected during the runway works. Before any NOTAM, publish why the 1,030 m configuration that worked from March to June cannot be kept while the south section is built, and how many weeks the tie-in needs. If a full closure is unavoidable, make it weeks, in deep winter, with a published end date, as at Kefalonia, Corfu and Zakynthos. Agree one extra daily Piraeus sailing with Blue Star before the closure, publish ΕΚΑΒ's helicopter plan, keep the airport open to helicopters, and raise the Transport Equivalent ceiling on air fares for the duration. — a resident of Chios
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Chios faces 4+ months with no flights while the phased plan was the official plan. Read the chronicle, with every source, and send it to your MP. #DontStopChiosFlights
